Q. How strict should parents be controlling TV today? Should Christian families get rid of TVs altogether?

There is no doubt whatsoever that the media, and TV in particular, has done more to undermine public values than anything else. TV remains the main recreational activity.

Listen to a background sound for long enough and you eventually lose consciousness of it. When a society tolerates immoral behaviour for long enough it is soon accepted as "normal" and laws become relaxed.

Demonic forces or powers are reality. The Scriptures confirm it and common sense ought to also. The corrupting influence of evil always begins in small increments and over time gets bolder and bolder. Who, twenty years ago, would have dreamed that in some west European countries there would be laws permitting homosexual marriage and sex with children as young as 13 years old?? Yet it has happened.

In one Labour-controlled council in London, England, it is obligatory for school teachers to teach 5 year olds that homosexuality is a natural "alternative" to heterosexuality. Needless to say such is utterly demonic.

"Give the devil an inch and he'll take a yard" is certainly true. I was recently in England and watched a selection of TV programs for children as well as adults. In 90% of programs I saw a subtle undermining of Christian values was present. Typically, the undermining occurs through the medium of humour.

If can once get someone to laugh about something immoral you have him hooked. Humour is a psychological condition of acceptance. We laugh when we are relaxed. And what we laugh at is a revelation on how we look at morality in general. It is extremely easy to laugh at something that is mildly immoral. Perhaps it might be a joke about adultery -- or a little innuendo.

Another device is subtlety. The English are particularly fond of word games. Normal words that sound like smutty ones become twisted when certain moods are created. In listening to a session of the Houses of Parliament I heard cynicism, innuendo, sarcasm, mockery, insolence, and rudeness. And riding above all of this was humour ---- they were actually enjoying themselves. A kind of game was being played, a sort of sophisticated one-upmanship. And this from the British government!

On TV there is every form of demonic subtlety, and often no subtlety at all. Violence, loudness, rudeness, aggressiveness, and sexual promiscuity suffuses it. And children who watch it accept it as normal. TV has become on of the most important propaganda devices of Satan today and no-one...mature Christian adults included...is safe from it. (See NCCW No.6, November 1993, "TV: The God in Your Living Room", pp.42-36).

If TV is watched it must be strictly regulated. The time is coming, and is not far off, when TV will not be safe at all. What a viewer sees unconsciously reprograms him to think in the way of the actors and actresses until he is himself inwardly living the drama he sees. It is a matter of time (and usually not very long) before this is translated into unacceptable behaviour.

This means that parents must know what children are watching and possess the keys to discern the spirits. Far too many Christian parents are ignorant and assume that TV for small children, for example, is harmless. I would say that 99% of modern productions aren't. Moreover, mental corruption can come about as much by omission as by inclusion. Think about it. What percentage of time do you spend instructing your children in the Gospel? Let's assume they are at school 50% of their waking lives. If they watch harmless secular programs for another 20% of their waking time, and if they are taught Gospel truths 1% of the time, then between 70 and 99% of the time they aren't learning anything Zionic at all.

Time is precious and TV consumes a disproportionate amount of time. The advent of the video has not only brought blessings but even more difficulties. If a child is taken up with a particular program or film that is not Zionic, then he will watch it over and over again, and his unconscious will become more and more deeply programmed. Why do you think that "normal" play for boys involves using imitation machine guns and other weapons of violence? Why do you think that young girls try to "go steady" when they are 13 or 14 years old? It is because they see it all on TV and simply imitate what for them is portrayed as "normal". And pressure on children to conform to societal "norms" is extraordinarily strong, especially at school.

This is why the New Covenant believes in building its own sub-culture where an healthy environment prevails and where the members can educate their own children. The corrupting influence at school and on TV (as well as radio and magazines) is going to get worse and worse. The media are not harmless, they are positively destructive.

The recommendation of the apostolate is either get rid of the TV altogether or carefully regulate it. Up-building programs can be safely recorded on video cassette and shown at other times as a family activity. For those who can afford video machines, building up a library of healthy films and TV programs is well worth doing but it requires time, organisation and effort.

But then this is the real problem, isn't it? Parents don't have time for their children any more so the school teacher and the media become the moral educators. Is that Christian wisdom?

It is easy to sit a child in front of a TV and then go off somewhere else. No effort is involved. But it might cost your child's soul.